Temet Nosce
by EtherTwist
Summary: Ch 4 up. Two people enter the 2nd DOA tournament. One to find revenge for her parents, the other to find his memory. Both will discover more than what they planned. Genre, rating may change. Read and review!
1. Chapter 1

Dead or Alive and its characters are owned by Tecmo and Team Ninja. I merely own the laptop on which this story was typed.

Any questions can be sent to the email address in my profile.

**Temet Nosce – Ch. 1**

Music swelled and filled the air, touching every cell in the young woman's body. She breathed it in; letting the music soar within her, down to her core then back upwards. She opened her mouth to let it out, transformed into the first notes of the aria.

Screams filled the air. Helena found herself sprawled on the stage floor; a sharp pain in her left shoulder. She was confused – _how did I get here?_ The music had stopped and the only thing louder than the chaos of the audience was the pounding of her pulse inside her head.

The time slowed. Her mother – who just moments before had proudly stood at her side as they performed their first ever duet – stepped into the spotlight. She stood, shielding her daughter from the balconies, her form haloed by the light.

_She looks like an angel…so beautiful,_ Helena thought.

The report of the gun shattered that beauty. For a moment, the body of her mother hung suspended, and then snapped backward from the bullet's impact. Helena flinched as the blood struck her face, the reality of it all soaking in as her eyes found her mother's dead ones as they lay together upon the stage.

_Horror. Alone. Lonely. Sad. Hurt. Afraid._

_No!_

Helena woke up tangled in sweat-soaked sheets, barely containing the scream she felt inside her. Short, shallow breaths were gradually replaced with longer, deeper ones as she glanced about the darkened room. Her aqua-green eyes adjusted to the dim lighting as she made out the familiar objects – the floor, the walls, the ceiling, the door, her suitcase, the wardrobe…

_Be aware of what _is_. Not what was. _Her master taught her that.

Disengaging herself from the sheets, she swung her long legs around to sit on the edge of the bed. Snapping on the light upon the nightstand, Helena breathed a sigh and relaxed. The clock on the nightstand showed 5AM. She looked across the room to where a table, chair, and bench stood. On the bench were the outfits she had selected for today's sparring and tonight's match. On the table lay her credentials, a roster profiling the participants of the tournament, as well as schedule of the Tournament, and a locked black box.

_This is not the life of an opera star. _Yet as soon as the thought crossed her mind, Helena realized too that she had been preparing for this moment long before she knew it was to happen.

Her mother had always believed that a woman can be elegant and refined, yet also be strong and powerful as well. She encouraged her daughter to learn how to take care of herself at an early age. Helena never could quite figure out how her mother managed to pay for both her voice lessons and her martial arts lessons with her mezzo soprano's salary. Pi qua quan – Helena had chose that particular form for its grace – was a rare discipline to find a teacher in.

Helena hardly knew her father, the late Fame Douglas, founder of DOATEC and its fight tournament, which it sponsored yearly. Her mother always told her he was a very busy man "doing very important things". She was told that she should be proud of him. Occasionally, he would visit Helena and her mother at the home he had provided for them. She remembered the delight she felt as he always had a present for her each time he came. As she grew older, his visits became less and less until he stopped coming altogether. Then one day, he invited them to DOATEC headquarters. While they were there, an accident happened in one of the labs they had been touring. A test subject, the researcher had called him, reacted violently to a test they were performing. Helena could remember how she and her mother looked on in horror as the security guards brought him to bay using stun batons. Douglas was furious over the incident. They cut their visit short, despite her father's protests, and in spite of her mother's promises to him, they did not return. A few weeks later, Douglas was dead.

Yawning, she reached down to retrieve her dressing gown, which had fallen from its place on the bed. She donned it and crossed the room to the table, her hand fondling the key in the pocket of her gown. She paused before the box, as if hesitant to open it, feeling very much like the mythical Pandora. Then she shrugged, sat down, and placed the key into the lock. The lid opened silently, as it always did, to reveal the very thick file branded with the DOATEC insignia. On top of the file was a short note, written in indistinguishable block handwriting. It had been mailed to her with the file shortly after her mother's death. It read:

TO FIND YOUR MOTHER'S MURDERER, YOU MUST FIRST FIND OUT ABOUT YOURSELF. THIS FILE MAY BE OF SOME INTEREST TO YOU.

- A FRIEND

Helena lifted the hefty file from the box and proceeded to flip through its contents as she had done countless of times before. The first pages were photocopies of the will of Fame Douglas. While most of it she felt was inconsequential to her, it was the final few lines that she had highlighted:

_"And finally, the DOATEC and all of its holdings I am passing into the hands of my daughter, Helena Douglas. As her mother was the only woman I ever truly loved, and the guilt I have for not doing right by them will haunt me for all eternity, it is only fair that I give control of my corporate empire to the fruit of our love. If my passing occurs before Helena's coming of age, DOATEC will be held in trust for her by Dr. Victor Donovan, DOATEC's Chairman, until her age of majority."_

After the will came a few newspaper clippings regarding Douglas and DOATEC, two which caught her eye, "Douglas to pull plug on bioenhancement research", and "DOATEC OWNER MURDERED!". The latter's date was just mere months before the murder of Helena's mother. The last item was what made up the majority of the file.

Titled "Project Epsilon" it was a research log that tracked the progress of various top-secret experiments conducted upon a person they labeled "Test Subject One". Helena barely understood half of the log- what wasn't blacked out- but the photographs filled in the gaps. The pictures depicted a young Asian man who was about her age. The first photos show him in a wheelchair, body broken and crippled. The photos went into detail of the procedures that were tried upon him. The final pictures depicted Test Subject One as he was put through tests of his physical and mental stamina, clearly showing him growing more and more uncontrollable. The log described him as "becoming difficult to handle" and how scientists had used stun guns to keep him in submission after one experiment went haywire.

_I was there,_ she thought,_ it was the day Mother and I were visiting. So much for being top-secret…_

The final page of the "Project Epsilon" file concluded that the experiments were a failure and that the best course of action was to shut the program down and have Test Subject One terminated.

_And they couldn't even do that right,_ Helena mused.

She grasped the participant profiles and flipped through it until she found what she was looking for. It was the profile of the man, Ein, her opponent for this evening's fight. Aside from his physical stats, profession, and fighting style, the profile had very little information on him. Helena held up a photo of Test Subject One next to the one in Ein's profile. They were one and the same.

_Either he doesn't want to know about him, or he truly doesn't know himself,_ Helena thought, eyeing both images. Whatever the case, he was obviously a piece in her puzzle. He may have killed her mother, or father, or both. If he did, she thought, fists clenching the profiles and photo tight, she would have her revenge. If he did not, he probably knew who did. She will have her answers tonight.

Finished with her reverie, Helena stood up and stretched, wincing in reaction to the slight twinge she felt in her left shoulder, a reminder of that fateful night which led her down this path. Daylight had begun to creep into the room, its rosy glow catching in the golden tendrils of her hair.

_Today is going to be a long wait,_ she thought.

Mid-morning she was scheduled to practice with her tag-team partner, Lei Fang which left her the rest of the day to prepare for her match. Plenty of time, she smiled, to seek out and speak with the one person who may give her further insight on her upcoming fight.

"I must speak with Ryu Hyabusa," she murmured aloud to the room. She then turned on her heel and padded toward the bathroom to get ready for her day.


	2. Chapter 2

To Repeat: Tecmo and Team Ninja own Dead or Alive and its characters. I merely own the laptop on which this story was typed.

* * *

**Temet Nosce – Ch. 1**

"So are you nervous about tonight?" Lei Fang inquired as the young Chinese girl launched her offensive, graceful arms and legs feinting at Helena, who easily blocked the attack. The two were not seriously fighting, merely going through their moves and helping each other out by pointing out where each leave themselves open, providing suggestions in order to give the duo a better chance in the tag team matches.

"It's not the fight I'm worried about. It's the waiting I have to endure. I mean, what if he's the one-" Helena cut herself off in mid-sentence to disengage from Lei Fang, who had tried to throw her, and dropped to a bokuho stance, eyeing the black-clad girl. Lei Fang had chosen to wear black leather shorts with a matching top and boots. Helena couldn't fathom what possessed her to wear such an outfit, given how hot it already was. She had chosen a simple white blouse and jeans, still warm, but a lot more functional.

"You think he's the one who killed your mother?" Lei Fang asked incredulously. She was one of only two people Helena had confided in, telling them the real purpose for entering the Tournament. The two young women had befriended each other early on, seeing in each other a common bond. Both were skilled fighters and both were considered not to be serious contenders. However, time and the display of their abilities soon shut most of their detractors up.

"I'm not sure, but if he didn't, I'll bet he knows who did." It was Helena's turn to go on the offensive. She leapt upward into a double kick, easily sidestepped by Lei Fang, and spun into a sequence of flourishing punches, blonde ponytail flying. The blows either never found their mark or were deflected.

Lei Fang was getting bored. They had been simply sparring for nearly an hour now, and while that was all well and good, she felt the need to spice things up a bit. With a mischievous gleam in her brown eyes she began, "You know, this Ein person…" she paused to block an incoming kick, "…I hear he hasn't been KO'd in any of his fights". The comment had its desired effect. Helena hesitated, off balance, giving Lei Fang the opening she'd been looking for. With a force that belied her small frame, she swung around, putting her shoulder into the Frenchwoman, slamming her into the wall.

"_Oof!"_ Helena felt the air leave her lungs as her body slid down the wall. She sat on the ground for a moment, and with an arched golden brow, glared up at Lei Fang, who blinked at her innocently. She stood up slowly, then pounced on the Chinese girl, doubling her efforts.

"That's because," Helena gritted through clenched teeth, "he hasn't fought _me_ yet."

Lei Fang giggled, but nervously. The Frenchwoman's attacks were getting harder to block. Her brown eyes narrowed to almond slits in concentration; sweat beading on her face, matting her dark ponytail to the nape of her neck.

Helena could see her size and strength was beginning to wear Lei Fang down. She allowed herself a wicked smile, eyes glittering. _Time to return the favor_, she thought.

"Speaking of KO's, I hear Jann Lee is also undefeated in all of his matches as well". Helena watched as Lei Fang's eyes flew wide open, slackjawed, and gleefully seized the moment. The blond unloosed a powerful punch directed straight at the brunette's midsection. The blow threw the small girl head over heels backwards. She rolled a fair distance before stopping face down in the dirt.

Slowly, painfully, Lei Fang got to her hands and knees. Her fury at the mere mention of her nemesis' name, and the fact that she fell for her own trick, was all over her youthful face. She looked at Helena, who simply stared back and shrugged.

"That's because he hasn't fought _me_ yet either." Lei Fang hissed. Helena grinned. The two young women stared at each other, the one on the ground tried to suppress a giggle, which came out as a strangled noise. It was all it took for Helena, who dissolved into body shaking laughs, the tension she had been carrying leaving her. Soon she was followed by the silvery-belled chuckles of Lei Fang and now both were on the ground laughing, tears streaming down their sweat-stained faces. It was a while before either of them could regain their composure. Helena sat up and sighed out a giggle, wiping tears away with the dirty sleeve of her blouse. Lei Fang too had stopped laughing now and was now looking at the blonde woman, a smile on her lips. Helena smiled back.

"Thank you" she said softly. She reached out her hand. The younger woman took it and squeezed tight.

"Go kick his ass for me too, hm? You'll do great".

Together they got up and brushed themselves off.

"Hey, do you want to go grab lunch together, maybe check out a match?" Lei Fang asked as they walked to the exit, head tilted up at Helena.

"Um, thanks, but I'll pass this time. I'm thinking I need to speak with Ryu Hayabusa. He may help me with tonight's match" came the reply


	3. Chapter 3

Welcome back. First the legal disclaimers 'n' stuff:

Dead or Alive and its characters are owned by Tecmo and Team Ninja. I merely own the laptop on which this story was typed. My bf owns a ps2 and a copy of this bloody addictive, great for anger-management-issues game .

And now back to the story.

* * *

**Temet Nosce – Ch. 3  
**

In a remake of a temple courtyard elsewhere on the compound, a young man was practicing for his upcoming match. He was stripped to the waist, sweat glistening across his chest and arms. Most of the moves, he knew, were only recently familiar to him, as the man who found him and brought him back from the brink of death taught them to him. There were other moves, however, that he was aware of doing, but where he had learned them- they were obviously from another form of martial art, his master had said as much- he had no memory of it. He knew he should, but no matter how hard he searched his mind, there was nothing but a black, empty wall where his memories should be.

_It shouldn't be like this_, the young man named Ein thought, frustration narrowing his amber eyes. His anger showed in his movements, too, for his pace increased, his punches and kicks snapping out into the air as if trying to shatter that mental wall in the physical world. Only when his anger was spent did he stop, sides heaving from the exertion, sweat pouring down his body. As he was taught, he bowed, completing his practice. _You can't fight someone else when you're fighting you_, he chided himself.

Ein sighed, running a hand through his sweat-damped auburn hair. He had entered this competition at the suggestion of his master, hoping to find answers, and so far had found none. It seemed like a good idea at the time- when he was found; the clothes that he was wearing bore insignias that closely resembled the one for this tournament. His near-supernatural combat skills also backed the idea up. Surely he would fight someone who he had fought before and his or her familiarity would trigger something in his memory. Yet so far, he had nothing.

He turned and made his way toward the stairs. As Ein bent down to retrieve his shirt where he left it, a sharp, stabbing pain pierced through his skull. He closed his eyes shut tight and winced. Taking a few short breaths, the pain started to ebb. Ein opened his eyes, satisfied that the worst was over, and started to climb the stairs. He had taken no more than three steps when the pain returned with such ferocity that it dropped him to his knees, moaning.

"Not again..." Ein whispered hoarsely.

Distorted images flashed through his mind. Collectively, they had no continuity, no point of reference for Ein, but the emotions they evoked were marked indelibly on his soul, the fear, the anger, the joy, and the desperation. Here, he is strapped to a cold, metal slab, staring up into a blinding light...In the woods on his knees with the cold feel of a gun to the back of his head...Running through the woods, laughing as a child at play...Running for his life down a corridor as stinging blows rain down upon him, lunging out at the last moment as he is overtaken, horror struck eyes looking into his own as he is beaten into unconsciousness...

The young man remained in a prone position on the steps, letting the coolness of the stone soothe the throbbing in his skull. How much longer was he going to have to wait for his answers?

* * *

Helena sat watching Ryu Hayabusa as the ninja practiced with the famed Dragon Sword. She had found him in a small, rocky clearing, deep in the woods of the DOATEC compound, and hadn't wished to disturb him until he was finished. The ninja appeared to be in complete focus, almost as if he and the Sword were one. The sun had shifted since her practice with Lei Fang this morning, and the trees that she sat amongst obscured it enough for it to only dapple the forest floor. She had lost track of how long she had been watching, and her mind started to drift back to when she had first met him, at the banquet at the beginning of the Tournament. It was his focus, she recalled with an awkward smile to herself, which had left an indelible mark on her memory of that encounter.

She had chanced upon him having what seemed to be a rather heated conversation with a young redheaded girl dressed in a strawberry-colored kimono. He looked as though he was trying to convince her of something, but she would not hear him out and finally turned from him, shrugging off his hand as he tried to stop her. Helena too had turned away, not wanting to seem as if she had been eavesdropping, and almost gasped audibly when she looked up and found him standing right in front of her. Ryu fixed his penetrating green eyes on her and bowed, his face unreadable to her.

"Mademoiselle Voizin, it is a honor to meet you at last. I have been a great fan of your work." The ninja greeted her, to her surprise, in perfect French. He had used her mother's surname, which Helena had used as her professional name, and what she had used to register for the Tournament, figuring it was much safer to use than Douglas.

"Merci, Monsieur Hayabusa. You are too kind…" Helena began; returning his bow to hide the crimson tint that she was sure covered her face. "I am surprised that such a great fighter as yourself would be interested in such trifling entertainment."

A barely perceptible smile lightened Ryu's face. "The world is full of surprises. I'm surprised that such a great entertainer as you would be interested in fighting. The last time I saw you was at your premiere in Madama Butterfly in Tokyo…I'm sorry." He paused, noticing the pained look that had crossed the young opera star's face. "Did I say something to offend you?"

Helena realized he was looking at her with concern. She weakly smiled, trying not to let her eyes fill with tears. "I- it's not you, no… it's… um… _'Tutta la primavera' _was the duet my mother and I were performing when… ah… when she…" The knot in her throat prevented her from speaking further. She looked away from him and gazed at the other guests, refusing to let the ninja see any more of her sorrow.

The ninja saved her from further embarrassment. "Ah, yes, I had heard of that. Such a shame, you have my deepest sympathies, of course. Did the authorities ever find the murderer?"

"No, and I doubt they ever will." Helena replied, hastily wiping her eyes.

"I'm terribly sorry to hear that." Ryu paused, scanning the Frenchwoman's face. "I suppose…that is the reason you're here."

Helena simply stared at him, her mouth slightly agape. "How did you…"

He cut her off in mid-sentence. "Be careful with your vengeance, you may get more than you bargained for, especially here. There is more to this…" Helena could have sworn she saw the handsome face of the ninja twist into a sneer. "… 'Tournament' than what meets the eye."

Then as abruptly as he appeared, he bowed and was gone.

_What an odd man,_ she thought, the memory finishing its playback in her mind.

Below her, Ryu had finished, returning the Dragon Sword to the scabbard on his back. Without looking in her direction, he called out to her, "If you have been waiting for me to finish, then you may come down now". A soft breeze came up, catching the man's ponytail and sending it streaming out behind him like a flag.

Too stunned to speak, Helena climbed down from the stony ledge that she had been sitting on for well over an hour. What she had thought to be a rather well concealed position apparently was not.

Recognizing the singer, he ninja greeted her with a bemused smile. "You are not here to fight me, for it is my understanding that we are not to meet unless it is in the final round. So I am completely at a loss as to why you are seeking me out."

Helena paused, trying to find the right words to use, to say what she had come to him for. She toyed with a strand of her golden hair, debating how to approach the situation in her mind, until she realized that Ryu was giving her one of his laser focus looks. _You may get more than you bargained for. There is more to this…'Tournament' than what meets the eye;_ his last words rang in her head. She decided to forego the use of tact.

"I may be fighting my mother's killer in this evening's match." She held her breath, waiting for his response.


	4. Chapter 4

_Wow, took me long enough to write this chapter. Went through a creative dry spell there for a while, but with the help of some writing exercises and new creative ventures (follow the link to my LJ in my profile and you'll see what I mean), I'm getting back on track. Plus, I have two other stories in the hopper (one DOA related, one FFX-2 related) that may see the first few chapters published soon. I've tweaked the first three chapters of this one, so it they may change- slightly- over the next 24 to 48 hrs when I get around to uploading them.  
_

_Anyways, you know the drill, I don't own the characters, blah blah blah... On with the show!_

* * *

The emotionless expression returned to Ryu's face. He folded his arms across his chest and slowly exhaled.

"I see."

Helena waited for him to say more and was disappointed that he didn't. She felt her hands about to fidget with each other, and quickly restrained them by balling them into fists at her sides. She started speaking again, hoping he would eventually respond.

"It's the fighter named Ein. There really isn't much information about him, but…" She paused, hesitant on just how much information she should give the ninja. "I got some… information… shortly after my mother's death that may link him to her murder". She hated to be vague, yet it was easier than lying. "I was wondering, perhaps, you may have heard of him?" Her aqua eyes peered up inquisitively at his green ones, only to look away quickly. She could tell that he knew she was hiding something. Helena studied the ground at her feet, waiting for a response, if any, from the man in front of her.

There was another long pause. Then the ninja started to speak, his deep voice coming out slowly as he allowed his arms to drop at his sides.

"You chose not to follow the advice I gave you that first night, I see. Your quest for the truth and for revenge is more important to you than your own safety."

"The subject of my safety is rather a moot point, given I joined a fighting tournament." Helena retorted sharply. She quickly changed her tone, seeing his eyebrow twitch upward in slight annoyance. "It was because of your advice that I've come to seek you out. You seem to… know more about what is going on here, both in the tournament and with DOATEC. Since you seem to be rather knowledgeable on such topics, I felt I had to come to you," she sighed, looking back up at the ninja again. "Please," her voice barely above whisper volume, "tell me what you know, if anything."

It was the tone in which she pleaded her case that made Ryu turn away from her slightly. He had heard it before from someone else that had come to this tournament seeking revenge. For a moment, his vision blurred, and instead of blonde hair and aqua eyes, he saw red hair and amber eyes. He shook himself mentally. _This will not do,_ he thought. Yet as he looked upon the Frenchwoman, he knew that by her choosing the path she was embarking on would have similar, even tragic consequences.

"It has been rumored that the tournament is nothing more than a front and that DOATEC uses it as a testing ground for their bio weapons- essentially, human test subjects who have been altered in some way."

This was something Helena had already suspected, but she waited for the ninja to continue.

"The means they use to… "collect"… test subjects have been highly questionable, perhaps even illegal. The winner of the previous tournament…" Helena could detect a slight waver in his voice. "DOATEC captured her shortly after she won. It is my belief that they would have done this to any of the other fighters present- had they won instead. She managed to escape, or they let her escape-"

" 'Let her escape'?" She interrupted, repeating his words.

Ryu inclined his head. "Her escape seemed too… easy."

Helena crossed her arms in thought, raising a knuckle and tapping it against her lips. The information gave her a new perspective on the information contained in the file back in her room. Perhaps the murderer did not act of his own accord? What if it was DOATEC who wanted her dead? If that was the case, then by coming to this tournament, Helena thought, may have been a fatal mistake.

She continued to mull over Ryu's words, recalling the change that subtly came over him when talking about the girl. She didn't notice the ninja about to take his leave of her, walking away silently, when it clicked.

"The girl, she was the one you were talking to that night, at the banquet. She was the one DOATEC captured, wasn't she?" Helena inquired, calling out to the retreating form of the ninja.

Ryu stopped in mid-stride, turning back to face the opera singer. With a guarded, expressionless face, he replied, "Yes, it was her".

"You care for her very much, don't you," Helena murmured, her tone making it more of a statement and less of a question. He did not reply, but the slight change in his olive skin color spoke for him. She inquired again, this time a different question. "Why on earth would she return here, if she knew the dangers involved?"

"While she was held captive, her brother was kidnapped from their home. She believes DOATEC may be responsible and comes to find him, and free him if he is here."

"Kidnapped? How is that possible? I know DOATEC is powerful, but even they couldn't simply go into village full of ninjas and take one of their own."

"They can if that one is crippled."

Something in Helena's stomach twisted. "Crippled?"

"He was paralyzed in a battle shortly before the inaugural DOA Tournament."

Suddenly, Helena couldn't breathe right. Her whole body tensed as she digested the news. She clutched her midsection, feeling the familiar sensation of her blood pounding in her ears. Ryu, noticing the sudden change in her composure took a step forward, hand extended out to her.

"Mademoiselle, are you alright?" he inquires, his voice concerned.

"I-I'm fine," inside, Helena laughed bitterly. It was the second time she had let her guard down in front of the man. If they ever fought, he would have her knocked out inside three moves! "Thank you, for what you have told me. I should be going now," she added quickly, and turned to go. She had walked only a half dozen steps when the ninja called out to her.

"A path that begins in death will only end in death."

Helena halted in mid-step and turned to face the ninja one more time. She could see his eyes staring right through her once again. Despite the chill she felt run down her spine at his words, she felt able to meet his piercing gaze. She bowed slightly, acknowledging his words, and replied, "the bullet that killed my mother that night was meant for me. I really shouldn't be alive now, and each day from that moment onward is just borrowed time." Then turned on her heel and continued on her way.


End file.
